Blake Shelton Responds After Garth Brooks Withdraws From CMA’s Entertainer of the Year Consideration

On Wednesday, Garth Brooks announced that he will be removing himself from future consideration for the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award, sparking a number of reactions from fans and his fellow country stars. Blake Shelton shared his reaction on Twitter, dubbing Brooks “Entertainer of the Century.”

“He is Garth Brooks. GARTH BROOKS!!!” Shelton wrote. “I don’t give a s— what anyone says. ANYONE. Entertainer of the century.” Shelton was responding to a tweet from Steve Wariner, who wrote, “If you’ve ever seen Garth Brooks live, you know why he consistently wins entertainer of the year. There is no one as big as Garth, but more importantly there is no one as kind,” Wariner continued. “I have been fortunate enough to call Garth a close friend for years, and I know who he is off stage as well; one of the kindest people on the entire planet. Garth; you are not just entertainer of the year, you are a legend forever and you earned it. This is really a shame!”

Shelton and Brooks have never been nominated for CMA Entertainer of the Year during the same year — Shelton won the award in 2012 and Brooks has won a record seven times. The two stars collaborated in 2019 on Brooks’ “Dive Bar” and have performed the song together on multiple occasions. Shelton also called Brooks in as an advisor on The Voice during Season 11 and has previously said that he knew he wanted to sing country music after watching Brooks’ first television special.

“We had a telephone conversation; I won’t say it was a disastrous conversation, but it’s awkward a little bit because he’s Garth, and I’m the guy that wanted to be a country singer because I saw his first television special,” Shelton previously told PopCulture.com and other media of receiving a call from Brooks asking him to collaborate on “Dive Bar.” “So that’s an awkward, in my mind, conversation because everything I said sounded something like, ‘Hey you remember that time you sang ‘Friends in Low Places’? Literally that’s all I thought.’”

“My fan club, they would’ve laughed in my face,” he continued. “But anyway, by the end of the conversation, he didn’t say that that’s why though, he just said, ‘I got this song that I’d like for you to listen to and maybe if you like it then we can record it together.’ Which I literally I think I said, ‘Buddy, I haven’t heard it, but I’ll do it.’”